Tuesday, September 04, 2007

Planning for retirement

Ephesians 4:11:It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers---and some to be hula hoop entertainers.

Sept. 3: Chrystal Coronas performs her hoop routine at the Circus Hollywood at the New York State Fair in Geddes, N.Y.

I can picture our Hannah doing this in about 15 years. She'll be in the Cirque du Soleil, making megabucks as a star hula hoop performer, and supporting mom and dad in their retirement.

Hannah is a natural hoopster. Over the last few years, she has won every hula hoop contest she has been in--from competitions in the Girl Scouts to our town festival. This last year, at our Riverdays Festival, she won while holding on to and eating a snowcone.

I'm always amazed at some of these performers that you see in circuses, etc, and how they can turn seemingly trivial talents into a career. The first thing that comes to mind is a woman I saw on a Cirque du Soleil show one time; she balanced and juggled umbrellas with her feet while lying on her back. Another guy is Dazzlin Dave, International Yo-Yo Master. I hired him a couple of times to come in and perform at our Blue/Gold Banquets in the Cub Scouts. The guy gets $200/hour to do something he loves to do.

Of course, you tend to forget the countless hours that they've spent reaching the level of expertise which allows them to command the big bucks. I think I'll have to start pushing Hannah to practice the hula hoop every day. I can be the Earl Woods of the hula hooping world, and Hannah will be the hooping Tiger Woods.